ULSTER GOT THEIR first pre-season win after beating Leinster 10-7 at Tallaght Stadium this afternoon. Both sides started their pre-season campaigns last week and both lost to English opposition, with Ulster losing at home to Exeter and Leinster going down away to Northampton.
Ulster did the majority of the damage early on, after Jared Payne touched down in the corner two minutes in following an offload from Louis Ludik.
Ian Humphries extended Ulster’s lead after 30 minutes when he split the Leinster posts with a penalty. Both sides had a mix of youth and experience in their XV’s, which probably contributed to the lack of scores.
Leinster finally got on the board after half-time, when hooker Brian Byrne burrowed over from close range after Leinster won the ball at an Ulster scrum.
Ian Madigan and Issac Boss came close to grabbing a winning score for Leinster, but the visitors held on for the win, and condemned Leinster to their second straight pre-season loss in the process.
Leinster: Zane Kirchner (Cian Kelleher, half-time); Fergus McFadden (Tom Daly, 59), Brendan Macken (Michael McGrath, half-time), Steve Crosbie, Darragh Fanning (Sam Coghlan Murray, half-time); Jimmy Gopperth (Ian Madigan, half-time), Luke McGrath (Isaac Boss, half-time); Cian Healy (Michael Bent, half-time), Bryan Byrne (Tyrone Moran, 59), Mike Ross (Tadhg Furlong, 52), Kevin McLaughlin, Mike McCarthy (Ben Marshall, 46), Jack Conan (Tom Denton, half-time), Shane Jennings (Josh van der Flier, 59), Sean O’Brien CAPTAIN (Dan Leavy, 18-22 & 49; Gavin Thornbury, 64).
REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: Sean McCarthy, Ed Byrne, Nick McCarthy, Cathal Marsh, Billy Dardis.
Ulster: Louis Ludik (Ricky Andrew, half-time); Michael Allen (Rory Scholes, 18-26), Jared Payne (Louis Ludik, 70), Stuart Olding (Rory Scholes, 38; Jacob Stockdale, 52), Craig Gilroy; Ian Humphreys (Sean O’Hagan, 49), Paul Marshall (Michael Heaney, 67); Andrew Warwick (Ruaidhri Murphy, half-time; Callum Black, 67), Rob Herring (John Andrew, 64), Wiehahn Herbst (Declan Fitzpatrick, 36; Bronson Ross, 67), Dan Tuohy (Neil McComb, 64), Franco van der Merwe (Alan O’Connor, 52; Lewis Stevenson, 67), Robbie Diack (Mike McComish, 71), Sean Reidy (Clive Ross, 55; Conor Joyce, 71), Roger Wilson (Nick Williams, half-time; Kyle McCall, 74).
REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: David Shanahan, Ross Adair.
